A Class 8 student of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad, died allegedly after suffering a head injury while playing cricket on Monday afternoon.

Family members mourn the death of Aryan on Monday morning.(Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

A Class 8 student at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad, died allegedly after suffering a head injury while playing on Monday afternoon. However, the family of the deceased student, Aryan, said they suspected foul play.

Aryan’s father Mukesh Kumar, who is a constable with Central Industrial Security Force, said that he got a call from school authorities saying his son has suffered a head injury after hit by a football. Kumar said that however, air force officials said Aryan suffered the injury while playing cricket. The school authorities were nowhere to be found when the boy succumbed to injury, Kumar said.

File Photo of Aryan.
(HT File Photo)

Aryan’s family has approached the civil police and agreed for an autopsy to be conducted after they inspected the school premises inside the airbase on Monday evening. Kumar said that he had gone to work after dropping Aryan on bike at the bus stand on Monday morning.

“Later, I got a call from school that my son is being taken to hospital as he suffered some health complications and that I have to reach the hospital. Even as I reached the Mohan Nagar hospital, I kept receiving their calls saying they are on their way. Aryan has died after he was brought to the hospital. The school officials told me repeatedly that my son suffered injury due to a football. I am not able to believe that he died after hit by a football,” Kumar said.

“My son hasn’t reached the hospital when I went there. So I called the school authorities and said I would get him transported to the hospital. But they told me to wait at the hospital and said they will bring him soon. My son died when they brought him here. I would have got him treated at the best hospital had the school officials brought him in time,” Kumar said.

The family hails from Harsh Vihar in Delhi and said that it was unlikely the death happened due to a football. They alleged a foul play behind the incident.

“My son was good in studies and had no liking for sports. Even I have not encouraged him to join sports. He might have suffered the injuries after getting beaten up by some other students or maybe due to some untoward incident. We demand a thorough inquiry into the incident,” Kumar said.

On the other hand, the school principal Lahri Singh from Kendriya Vidyalaya (number 1) did not take calls despite repeated attempts to contact him over the phone. By Monday evening, his mobile remained switched off.

However, when contacted, the spokesperson from Indian Air Force responded that the boy was initially treated at the airbase hospital.

“The school children were playing cricket. It was not a part of an activity organised by the school. The boy suffered head injury but the specific details are not known — whether he suffered it due to the ball, the bat or may be a fall. All the possible medical assistance was given and when things seemed critical, he was rushed to a higher hospital, where he died. Since the case is civil in nature, it will be investigated by the civil police upon complaint by family,” the spokesperson said.

Dushyant Rana, police post in-charge at Hindon airbase, said that Aryan’s parents consented for an autopsy, which was expected late on Monday night or Tuesday morning.

“Any report will be received on Tuesday. The family also went to the school premises and agreed for postmortem. They are yet to file a police complaint,” Rana said.